Maloney Hall Officially Opens to Students

By Thomas Curry

Renovations for Maloney Hall, the newly funded Busch School of Business’ building, are in the final stages as classes are scheduled to move into classrooms before the end of the semester.

Maloney Hall, originally named the Martin Maloney Chemical Laboratory, was constructed in 1917 and named after Maloney for his philanthropy work in Philadelphia and contributions to Catholic University as a benefactor. The Busch School of Business came about in January 2013, after branching off from the School of Arts and Sciences originally named the Department of Business and Economics, becoming its own entity after a vote from the University Board of Trustees.

News of renovation came to the Busch School in 2016, after $47 million in gifts and donations were given to the school, with $15 million of the proceeds coming from the Busch Family Foundation. As a result, this allowed the department to flourish, tripling the number of incoming undergraduate Business and Economics majors between 2015 and 2019.

Construction of the building began with the incoming Class of 2021 in late 2017 and is nearly finished. Maloney Hall is the first of a series of planned construction projects on campus. Construction is also underway around Pangborn Hall and Gowan Hall, and around the perimeter of the Mullen Library.

Additions to the completely redone Maloney Hall include modern-style study rooms and offices, a 273-seat auditorium, and three case-team classrooms designed for case studies.

Along with these additions, Maloney Hall will also be home to a chapel on the west wing of the building. The chapel is meant to be a reminder to students and staff of the Lord’s presence and incorporation of faith in one’s everyday career.

“We may be the only business school in America that has a beautiful chapel,” Former Dean and current Clinical Associate Professor, William Bowman said, “[it] has beautiful stained glass windows depicting mostly modern saints our students and faculty can relate to.”

Bowman credits the “St. Michael the Archangel” to Granda, a firm based in Spain that designs and builds chapels. The chapel will be used for daily mass at 12:40 pm, “as well as a full schedule of confession, adoration, and days of recollection,” according to Bowman.   

On January 7, Catholic University posted a video on Facebook of progress between August 2018 and December 2018, one week prior to the start of the Spring semester. Accompanying the video was a caption confirming that the building is open for class at the start of the upcoming semester, exclaiming, “The renovations are wrapping up in Maloney Hall, the new home for @thebuschschool. The building will open at the start of the Spring semester.”

Business and Economics students say they are excited for the new school after seeing the late  Department of Business and Economics evolve into the Busch School.

“I am so happy that the business school finally has a place for all of its students to socialize,” said Jessica Shelton, a sophomore international business major and President of the International Business Club, “it has been challenging in the past with no set place of study for business majors.” Shelton also said she takes a liking to the “Harvard on the outside, Google on the inside” slogan that the school has advertised.

The renovation is seen by the school as a necessary addition with the rapidly increasing enrollment rates of the University, with business being one of the fastest growing areas of study at the University.

“The architects at Studios did an amazing job for us, led by Brian Pilot.  And the Whiting Turner construction company made the design magic become reality,” Bowman added. Others involved in the process of renovating Maloney Hall include, “Phil Brach of the Busch School, Kathleen Cahill of our Facilities office, Larry Blanford from our Board of Trustees and Board of Visitors, and Tim and Steph Busch who played both a financial and a design role.”

Classes are set to move into Maloney Hall in February, and faculty and staff have already moved to their offices. The school plans to host a formal dedication for the building as well as a consecration for the new chapel on March 18.